Class sponsor

Secrecy became extremely important to state-sponsored biological weapons programs, especially to the military that conduct the research and their history of often misleading their government; and, here are a few reasons from yours truly as to why:

• The mere atrocity of biological warfare motivated states to cover up their research;


• The establishment of the BWC; after all, the only international oversight authority before then was the 1925 Geneva Protocol;


• A secret program would provide surprise, both offensively and defensively, the latter by having countermeasures already in place.

Make sense?  Let’s look at the big picture:  Go to the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies’ Chemical & Biological Weapons Resource Page found here: http://cns.miis.edu/cbw/possess.htm.  Carefully analyze the table:  Chemical and Biological Weapons:  Possession and Programs Past and Present and its footnotes.  Now then, let’s get to work:  This Discussion has been released early for your convenience. As soon as possible, pick a country that interests you (EXCEPT South Africa) and post your selection for that nation in the subject heading to reserve your definitive response in this conference (no duplications please!). Next,do the research and provide a detailed evaluation of your chosen country’s history in a state-sanctioned biological weapons program.  Your evaluation, critical thinking and analysis should include, but not be limited to, the following:

1. The offensive biological program that was sponsored by that nation;


2. Its mechanism of secrecy and organization;


3. Past weaponized agents developed and R&D of select agents discovered by evidence;


4. Examples of what agents were “tested” on humans, if any;


5. The state of the biological program today (careful);


6. Your perception of whether the nation was and/or remains in violation of the BWC, and what its specific member status is today.

APA format, in-text citation, references include, 2 pages